


Winter's Heart

by InArlathan



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Eventual Fluff, F/M, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-09
Updated: 2019-12-09
Packaged: 2021-02-26 23:46:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21717799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InArlathan/pseuds/InArlathan
Summary: Alone in the dark, Solas wanders the streets of Haven only to walk into Lavellan. Trying to offer help and encouragement, Solas soon finds himself captivated by her. But what should he make of his conflicted feelings for Lavellan?
Relationships: Female Lavellan/Solas, Lavellan & Solas
Comments: 2
Kudos: 16





	Winter's Heart

**Author's Note:**

> This story is the result of a writing prompt given to me over on [Tumblr](https://in-arlathan.tumblr.com). It explores the developing relationship during Solas and Lavellan before their Fade kiss. This was much harder to write than I thought it would be, but I hope I came up with something that you all can enjoy. 

At night, the cold is almost unbearable. Even the humans accustomed to the rough climate of the Frostbacks retreat into their homes as soon as the sunlight vanishes in the East, leaving the small town of Haven almost devoid of life. The only sound is the muffled conversations and occasional songs emitting from the tavern, where a few brave souls seek solace in the company of others.

Solas sighs, his breath rising like white mist from his lips. Everything seems so peaceful as if there isn’t a massive hole in the sky threatening to tear the world apart. 

In slow paces, Solas walks the streets of Haven, taking in the quiet around him. It is in these rare moments that he can imagine all of this world transforming back to a time when life had made so much more sense to him. When he still believed in peace.

“Solas.”

The voice is crisp, but not unpleasant. He stops in his tracks and gazes upward, taken aback by the sight of her. 

Lavellan sits on the scaffolding near the town’s palisades, clad only in light clothing. Her feet are bare as it is custom among the Dalish. Solas can see her shiver as she regards him, her arms wrapped around her knees.

With a slight frown on his face, Solas approaches. “Is everything alright?”

“Yes,” she says as if talking to him was the best thing to have happened to her in a good long while. “Well, kind of. I think.”

“Is there anything I can do to help?”

She bites her lips, considering the question.

“I was wondering,” she says slowly. “Would you…”

Her voice trails off.

“Yes?” Solas asks, eyeing her suspiciously.

Lavellan places a hand on the wooden planks she is sitting on. “Would you care to join me? Just for a bit?”

Solas draws himself upright instinctively. Ever since he awoke from uthenera, he’d tried to avoid any kind of unwelcome attention. From the Chantry, the templars, even the Dalish. When he joined Cassandra in her quest to seal the Breach, he’d acted as humbly as possible to disperse the seeker’s suspicion. But for some reason, Lavellan won’t let him get away so easily. What’s more, her interest seemed to be genuine…

To say it made him uncomfortable would be a vast understatement. 

_Don’t be ridiculous_ , he chides himself. _You stood in the face of terror when no one else would. You have cast a veil between the worlds. Why would you be afraid of one woman?_

“Solas?”

He blinks. “Hm?”

“Will you come up here?” she asks, a soft smile tugging at her lips.

“Ah, yes,” he mumbles. “Of course.”

Before he can make more of a fool of himself, he climbs the scaffolding and sits down beside her. She smiles at him, a slight frown on her face. 

“Thank you,” she says.

“It’s nothing,” he replies, taking in the majestic panorama of the Frostbacks. Their slopes shine with the ghostly green light emitted by the Breach. If it weren’t for the terrible threat, the tear in the sky poses, the view could be considered beautiful. 

“It’s been weeks since I joined the Inquisition,” Lavellan says, turning her attention back to the surrounding mountains as well. “But I still can’t believe what’s happening.”

“It is too much to comprehend for any mortal,” Solas says, carefully choosing his words.

She chuckles, but there is no happiness in the sound. “If only I knew how I’ve gotten into his mess,” she tells him, flexing the fingers of her left hand. The hand that bears the mark. “Whenever I try to remember what happened at the conclave, all I can find is this… void inside. An utter emptiness. It scares me more than I’d like to admit."

The sadness in her voice startles him. His gaze flicks towards her face, tracing the line of her nose, the curve of her mouth. Her skin looks pale and the cold has begun to taint her lips in an alarming shape of blue. 

Solas reaches out with one hand and touches her chin, turning her face towards him. Even in the dark, he can see the light in her eyes, the unbreakable will to live, and to keep on living.

Was this fighting spirit a common trait among the Dalish?

Lavellan blinks at him but doesn’t recoil. Her calm is comforting beyond measure. Even in her sadness, she doesn’t give up. It is something to aspire to.

Carefully, Solas caresses her lips with his thumb and waits for her to push him away. But she doesn’t. Instead, she regards him, waiting for him to make his next move. 

What should he make of this? 

“You are cold,” he says, matter-of-factly.

“You, too, apparently."

Lavellan takes his other hand, interlinking her fingers with his. Suddenly, Solas notices the small tremor in his limbs, the shaking of his own lips. 

“Oh,” he breathes. Despite the cold, he feels a wave of heat surging through him.

Lavellan smiles and the light in her eyes shines brighter than the breach in the sky, brighter than the sun on a clear winter morning. His body urges him to lean forward, to draw her closer. It would be so easy. He could slip his hand towards her neck, holding her as he brushes his lips against hers. 

His heart skips a beat. 

_This is not right_ , he thinks, panic rising in his gut. 

“In time, all of this will make sense,” he tells her, hoping she doesn’t pick up on the rush of emotions surging through him. “Just take one step at a time. Your destiny will find you, one way or another.”

Lavellan squeezes his hand ever so gently, smiling in gratitude. “Thank you, Solas. I really needed to hear that.”

For a long moment, they look at each other, lost in their own thoughts. To him, it seems like he really sees her for the first time. Not the vessel that carries the mark. Not the intruder that interrupted Corypheus's plans. Not the Dalish elf that got caught up in a war unlike any in the history of Thedas. Right now, she is just the woman. And she is beautiful.

Solas sucks in a sharp breath.

“We should go back,” he suggests in a more casual tone and clears his throat. Before she can stop him, he withdraws from her and gets to his feet. “We’re not helping anyone if we freeze to death in this miserable cold.”

An with that, the tension between them dissolves.

“Alright,” she replies, a disappointed look on her face.

Solas accompanies her on her short walk over to the cabin Cassandra has assigned to Lavellan. They are almost by the door when she stops and looks at Solas once more. He can see in her eyes that she wants to say more, but she is lost for words. 

“I…,” she mutters.

“Don’t.” Solas lifts a hand. “You need to rest, lethallin. Warm yourself by the fire.”

Reluctantly, she nods and turns to the door. Solas waits, as she locks herself in, his heart still pounding heavy in his chest. Only then, he allows himself to breathe a sigh of relief.

Truly, he needs to be more careful around Lavellan. She irritates him in a way that he is not familiar with. In her presence, his awareness becomes muddled, his judgment clouded. Sooner or later, he would risk revealing too much of himself to her⎯of his true self. He needs to seal away his deepest feelings, pretending that she does not have this peculiar effect on his awareness. 

And yet he can’t help but smile, remembering the vigor with she took his hand, her eyes gleaming with a lust for life. 


End file.
